1. Field
This application relates to golf aids. More particularly, this application relates to a device which obtains topographical data of putting greens. More particularly, this application relates to a device that, through use of obtained topographical data, displays graphical putting aid to a user.
2. Prior Art
Presently, most golfers base the direction and force of a putt upon a visual perception of a putting green's contours. Changes in elevation can be hard for the human eye to perceive. Some previous attempts to assist golfers in the reading of putting greens, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,662,535 and 6,997,823, made use of levels and other perception altering mechanisms; however these devices only provided a vague, burdensome, and indirect method of reading a putting green's contours. Other previous attempts, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,638,173 and 7,713,148, provided devices and methods that when provided with topographical data of a putting green, display aid in putting to a user. However, these methods require that topographical data exists for the putting green of interest, and that it is in the user's possession. In addition to this, topographical data for each putting green may require expensive surveying equipment and a time consuming survey process. Another shortcoming is the amount of memory required to hold topographical data for a large number of putting greens.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a device which can obtain topographical data of any putting green in real time, and then through the use of that data, display graphical putting aid to a user. Recent advances in three-dimensional imaging have made such a device practical.